I'm completely aware that I'm opening a can of worms here, but I do love this debate. It's always interesting to hear the pros and cons from different parties.

So here we go...

In my opinion, having music on vinyl makes no difference in quality (to me). When I listen to vinyl, what I hear is a different mix. I hear imperfections. And these things combined DO make a good sound - but is what I'm hearing supposed to be a step up in quality? Now, people tell me that vinyl is the only medium that can truly represent the sound from the original magnetic tape (and yet somehow these same people will tell me how bad cassettes are) and that's fine, but I think there are many variables here that one must consider in order for this to ring true.

For example...

Sound system:
I've had a friend bang on and on and on about the superiority of vinyl over CDs, only for me to find that he had a $60 Kmart record player with in-built speakers. Now, I'm not about to diss this guy's sound system. It did the job. However, if there was a superior sound there, it was lost in the hiss and treble of the two 5 inch speakers blasting at full volume. By the same token, I've had a CASSETTE PLAYER with a ten band EQ that sounded absolutely outstanding when set correctly to whatever I was listening to. With the right settings on the EQ you could pretty well eliminate the hiss and pull up a great bass sound which sounded just as good as vinyl or CD.

Mix:
So it's a fact that vinyl and CD should be mastered differently to allow for the limitations/ magnify the advantages of both formats. And the fact is, whether or not either medium represents the original mix better, if the original mix for vinyl sucks, it's going to suck when it's playing on a vinyl record. The fact that it's on vinyl instead of a piece of plastic is irrelevant

Feel free to add more.

Now I know many people prefer the asthetic value of vinyl records, and for that I completely understand. Some people prefer the fact that vinyl is often short run, limited, various colours etc, but in the immortal words of someone (whose name I can't even remember. Some musician) - "It's for listening to. It's not a toy", however, I do understand the ritual and even the culture surrounding it.

Please feel free to add to this, to agree with me, to disagree with me or straight up argue with me.

I'm not trying to cause an arguement here. Just a friendly debate about something that I like to discuss!